People v. Willis CA2/5

FACTS

Defendant and another man robbed a Metro PCS cell phone store in Hawthorne the evening of August 27, 2011. Police focused on defendant as a suspect because he left his phone behind in the store and his fingerprints were on a contract he had been filling out before the robbery. Defendant and his accomplice entered the store, and defendant

All further statutory references are to the Penal Code unless otherwise stated. 2 The same jury acquitted defendant’s cousin Brandon Willis on all three counts of robbery.

2 pretended to be interested in purchasing a new phone. Two employees, a male and a female, were at the counter, and a third employee was in the renovation area in the back of the store. While defendant was filling out a contract for a new phone, he pulled his shirt up and showed the female employee what appeared to be a gun in his waistband. Defendant told the employee to “get [her] hands away from the keyboard [because he was] about to rob the place.” She complied. Defendant gathered the three employees and directed one of the male employees to take him to the safe at the back of the store. Defendant and the employee were unable to open the safe because the…